U.S. patent application number 12/268455 was filed with the patent office on 2010-01-28 for digital photo frame capable of displaying images asynchronously and method thereof.
This patent application is currently assigned to HONG FU JIN PRECISION INDUSTRY (ShenZhen) CO., LTD. Invention is credited to CHENG-HAO CHOU, KUAN-HONG HSIEH, XIAO-GUANG LI, MING-FENG TSAI.
Application Number | 20100020089 12/268455 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 41568221 |
Filed Date | 2010-01-28 |
United States Patent
Application |
20100020089 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
TSAI; MING-FENG ; et
al. |
January 28, 2010 |
DIGITAL PHOTO FRAME CAPABLE OF DISPLAYING IMAGES ASYNCHRONOUSLY AND
METHOD THEREOF
Abstract
A method for displaying images asynchronously is provided. The
method includes: providing at least one display mode, the display
mode defines a total display area count displayable showed on a
display, an interval to display images on the display, and a
predetermined displaying manner; obtaining images and the display
mode; generating one or more display areas according to the display
mode; and displaying the images on the generated display areas
according to the interval and displaying manner.
Inventors: |
TSAI; MING-FENG; (Tu-Cheng,
TW) ; CHOU; CHENG-HAO; (Tu-Cheng, TW) ; HSIEH;
KUAN-HONG; (Tu-Cheng, TW) ; LI; XIAO-GUANG;
(Shenzhen City, CN) |
Correspondence
Address: |
PCE INDUSTRY, INC.;ATT. Steven Reiss
288 SOUTH MAYO AVENUE
CITY OF INDUSTRY
CA
91789
US
|
Assignee: |
HONG FU JIN PRECISION INDUSTRY
(ShenZhen) CO., LTD
Shenzhen City
CN
HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY CO., LTD.
Tu-Cheng
TW
|
Family ID: |
41568221 |
Appl. No.: |
12/268455 |
Filed: |
November 11, 2008 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
345/581 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04N 1/00453 20130101;
G09G 2380/16 20130101; H04N 1/00458 20130101; H04N 1/0035 20130101;
G06F 3/147 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
345/581 |
International
Class: |
G09G 5/00 20060101
G09G005/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jul 24, 2008 |
CN |
200810302983.9 |
Claims
1. A digital photo frame (DPF) for displaying images
asynchronously, comprising: a display; a memory for storing images
and display modes, wherein each of the display modes defines a
total display area count displayable on the display, an interval to
display images, and a predetermined displaying manner; and a
processor being connected with the memory and the display,
comprising: a reading module configured for obtaining images and
the display modes from the memory; an assigning module configured
for defining one or more display areas according to the total
display area count displayable on the display; and a displaying
module configured for displaying the images according to the
display mode.
2. The DPF as described in claim 1, wherein the predetermined
displaying manner is selected from the group consisting of a manner
of displaying images in the display areas one-by-one, and a manner
of displaying images in the display areas in a first-in-first-out
manner.
3. The DPF as described in claim 2, wherein if the display module
has images that have not yet been displayed on the condition that
all the display areas have images thereon, the display module
clears up the images on all of the display areas, and displays the
images that have not yet been displayed on the display areas.
4. The DPF as described in claim 2, wherein if the display module
has images that have not yet been displayed on the condition that
all the display areas have images thereon, the display module
substitutes the images on the display areas with the images that
have not yet been displayed.
5. The DPF as described in claim 1, wherein the memory is further
configured for storing a plurality of default system images, if
there are vacant display areas having no images displayed thereon
after the display module displays a last image that has not yet
been displayed, the reading module obtains one or more the default
system images, and the display module displays the default system
images on the vacant display areas.
6. The DPF as described in claim 1, wherein when the display module
displays the last image that has not yet been displayed, the
display module is further capable of displaying a prompt to remind
the user that all the images have been displayed.
7. The DPF as described in claim 6, wherein the display module is
further displaying another prompt to remind the user whether to
repeat displaying images in the current display mode, if the
processor does not receive any operation instructions in a
predetermined time, the display module is capable of repeating
displaying the images in the current image display mode, and if the
processor receives the operation instruction in the predetermined
time, the processor is capable of defining a new image display mode
and the display module is capable of displaying the images
according to the new image display mode.
8. The DPF as described in claim 1, further comprising an input
unit being connected with the processor, wherein the input unit
includes an image display parameters program for defining the
display modes.
9. The DPF as described in claim 1, wherein each of the display
areas is assigned with a different frame.
10. A method of displaying images asynchronously applied on a
digital photo frame (DPF), comprising: providing at least one
display mode, wherein each of the at least one display mode defines
a total display area count displayable on a display, an interval to
display images on a display of the DPF, and a predetermined
displaying manner; obtaining images and a display mode; generating
one or more display areas according to the display mode; and
displaying the images on the generated display areas according to
the interval and the predetermined displaying manner.
11. The method as described in claim 10, further comprising:
providing a plurality of system default images; and if there are
vacant display areas having no images displayed thereon after
displaying a last image that has not yet been displayed, obtaining
one or more the system default images, and displaying the system
default images on the vacant display areas.
12. The method as described in claim 10, further comprising:
displaying a prompt to remind the user that all the images have
been displayed when the last image not yet displayed has been
displayed.
13. The method as described in claim 12, further comprising:
displaying another prompt to remind the user whether to repeat
displaying the image in the current display mode, if no operation
instruction has been received in a predetermined time, repeating to
display images in the current display mode; and if receiving an
operation instruction in the predetermined time, defining a new
display mode according to the operation information, and displaying
the images according to the new display mode.
14. The method as described in claim 10, wherein each of the one or
more display areas is assigned with a different frame.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The disclosure relates to a digital photo frame capable of
displaying images asynchronously and method thereof.
DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART
[0002] Digital images play an important role in the lives of many
people, and digital photo frames are capable of displaying digital
images in various manners. For example, digital photo frames are
able to display multiple images on corresponding display areas
simultaneously. However, the display areas on display have the same
shape, which may be unappealing to many user. Therefore, what is
needed is a digital photo frame capable of displaying images
asynchronously and method thereof.
SUMMARY
[0003] A digital photo frame capable of displaying image
asynchronously is provided. The digital photo frame includes: a
memory for storing images and display modes, wherein each of the
display modes defines a total display area count displayable on a
display, an interval to display images on the display, and a
predetermined displaying manner; a processor being connected with
the memory, comprising: a reading module configured for obtaining
images and the display modes from the memory; an assigning module
configured for defining one or more display areas on the display
according to the display mode; a displaying module configured for
displaying the images in the display areas according to the
interval and the predetermined displaying manner.
[0004] Other advantages and novel features will be drawn from the
following detailed description of the preferred embodiment with
references to the attached drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0005] The components of the drawings are not necessarily drawn to
scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating
the principles of a digital photo frame. Moreover, in the drawings,
like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout
several views.
[0006] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a digital photo frame in
accordance with an exemplary embodiment.
[0007] FIG. 2 is a flow chart for a method of displaying images
asynchronously in accordance with an exemplary embodiment.
[0008] FIG. 3 is an exemplary schematic diagram illustrating an
asynchronous displaying process in a one-by-one displaying manner
in accordance with an exemplary embodiment.
[0009] FIG. 4 is an exemplary schematic diagram illustrating an
asynchronous displaying process in a first-in-first-out displaying
manner in accordance with an exemplary embodiment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
[0010] FIG. 1 is an exemplary block diagram of a hardware
infrastructure of a digital photo frame in accordance with an
exemplary embodiment. The digital photo frame includes at least one
input unit 10, a memory 11, a processor 12, and a display 13.
[0011] The memory 11 is configured for storing images and display
modes. Each of the display modes defines a total display area count
of images displayable on the display 13, an interval to display
images on the display 13, and a predetermined displaying manner.
The predetermined displaying manner can be a manner of displaying
images on the display areas one-by-one according to the interval
(see FIG. 3), or displaying images on the display areas in a
first-in-first-out manner according to the interval (see FIG. 4).
Furthermore, the display modes can also define parameters, such as
ratio, brightness, color, and angle view of the image. The display
modes can be system default and can also be configured using the
input unit 10.
[0012] The processor 12, connected with the memory 11 and the
display 13, includes a reading module 121, an assigning module 122,
and a displaying module 123. The reading module 121 is configured
for obtaining images and one of the display modes from the memory
11. The assigning module 122 is configured for defining one or more
display areas on the display 13 according to the total display area
count defined in the display mode, and assigning the display areas
with different frames, wherein the frames may have different
designs in shapes, sizes and patterns. Furthermore, for the purpose
of understanding exemplary embodiments, the display areas are
assigned an order number, for example, the first display area, the
second display area, the third display area, the forth display
area, and so on. Refer to the exemplary embodiment described below.
The displaying module 123 is configured for displaying the images
in the display areas asynchronously according to the interval and
the predetermined displaying manner.
[0013] In an exemplary embodiment as shown in FIG. 3, the
displaying module 123 displays images in the first displaying
manner, wherein the first displaying manner is embodied as the
display module 123 displays image A, B, C and D respectively in the
first display area, the second display area, the third display
area, and the forth display area, one-by-one according to the
interval.
[0014] In another exemplary embodiment as shown in FIG. 4, the
displaying module 123 displays images in the second displaying
manner, wherein the second displaying manner is embodied as the
display module 123 displays images A, B, C and D in
first-in-first-out manner according to the interval, for example
0.2 seconds(s). Specifically, the display module 123 displays the
image A on the first display area; after a first interval of 0.2
(s), the display module 123 displays the image A on the second
display area, removes image A from the first display area, and
displays the image B on the first display area; after the first
predetermined time interval has lapsed again (a second 0.2 s), the
display module 123 displays the image A in the third display area,
the image B in the second display area, and the image C in the
first display area; after a third 0.2 (s), the display module 123
displays the image A in the forth display area, the image B in the
third display area, the image C in the second display area, and the
image D in the first display area.
[0015] If there are images that have not yet been displayed on the
condition that all the display areas have images thereon, the
display module 123, in an exemplary embodiment, clears up the
images on all of the display areas and displays more images that
have not yet been displayed on the display areas according to the
interval and the predetermined displaying manner; in another
exemplary embodiment, the display module 123 substitutes the images
on the display areas with the new images according to the interval
time and the predetermined displaying manner (see FIG. 3 and FIG.
4), instead of clearing up the images described in the first
exemplary embodiment. Therefore, according to the predetermined
displaying manner, the display module 123 displays different images
on the display 13 asynchronously.
[0016] The memory 11 also stores a plurality of system default
images. If there are vacant display areas having no images
displayed thereon, after the display module 123 displays the last
image that has not yet been displayed, the reading module 121
obtains one or more of the system default images, and the display
module 123 displays the default system images in the vacant display
areas.
[0017] For a better understanding the present invention, in an
exemplary embodiment, the display mode that is system default,
defines the display area count of images displayable on the display
13 as 4, the interval to display images as 0.5 (S), and the
predetermined displaying manner as displaying the image of display
areas in first-in-first-out manner according to the interval of 0.5
(s), such as shown in FIG. 4.
[0018] In another exemplary embodiment, the display mode that is
defined by the user, defines the display area count displayable on
the display 13 as 4, the interval to display images as 0.2 (S), and
the predetermined displaying manner is displaying the image
one-by-one, as shown in FIG. 3, according to the interval of 0.2
(s).
[0019] When the display module 123 displays the last image that has
not yet been displayed, the display module 123 displays a prompt on
the display 15 to remind the user that all images have been
displayed. The display module 123 further displays another prompt
to remind the user whether to repeat displaying the images in the
current display mode. If the processor 12 does not receive any
operation information in a predetermined time (e.g., 0.5 (s)), the
display module 123 repeats displaying the images in the current
display mode. If the processor 12 receives the operation
information in the predetermined time, the processor 12 defines a
new display mode and the display module 123 displays the images
according to the new image display mode.
[0020] FIG. 2 is a flow-chart for a method of displaying image
asynchronously applied in the digital photo frame of FIG. 1 in
accordance with an exemplary embodiment.
[0021] In step S201, after being powered on, the digital photo
frame reminds the user to select a display mode. For example, in
the exemplary embodiment, the digital photo frame provides system
default display modes and user-defined display modes for
selection.
[0022] In step S202, the processor 12 determines whether it
receives an operation instruction generated from the input unit 10
in a predetermined time, that is, the processor 12 determines
whether the user selects a display mode in the predetermined
time.
[0023] In step S203, if the processor 12 does not receive the
operation information generated from the input unit 10, the
processor 12 obtains the system default display mode, and the
procedure goes to step S206 described below.
[0024] In step S204, if the processor 12 receives the operation
instruction generated from the input unit 10, the processor 12
determines that the user wants to manually define the display
mode.
[0025] In step S205, the processor 12 defines parameters of the
display mode according to the operation information. For example,
the processor 12 defines a total display area count displayable on
the display 13 is 5, the interval to display images is 0.2 (S), and
the predetermined displaying manner is displaying images in the
display areas one-by-one according to the interval.
[0026] In the step S206, the reading module 121 obtains images and
the display mode.
[0027] In step S207, the assigning module 123 generates display
areas in the display according to the obtained display mode.
Furthermore, the assigning module 123 assigns different frames to
each of the display areas.
[0028] In step S208, the displaying module 123 displays the
obtained images in the generated display areas according to the
interval and the predetermined displaying manner.
[0029] Although the present invention has been specifically
described on the basis of the exemplary embodiment thereof, the
invention is not to be construed as being limited thereto. Various
changes or modifications may be made to the embodiment without
departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.
* * * * *